


Quiet Before the Storm

by emperorssmile



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Coda, F/F, Fluff, Heline, Magnus Bane mention, Malec, Mortal Instrument Spoilers, The Dark Artifices backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-23 20:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19158169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emperorssmile/pseuds/emperorssmile
Summary: 3x20 coda: the scene right before Alec finds Heline doing ~ Research ~I do not own these characters. I acknowledge that creation of base characters belong to CC & that the creation of this world are both FF & CC.





	Quiet Before the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> There are spoilers in terms of Helen's parentage that aren't mentioned in depth until The Dark Artifices series.

“I wish our war room had these upgrades…” Helen skimmed her hands across an antique looking table that she knew was all smoke and mirrors. She knew the right series of numbers punched into the side keypad would turn the advanced computer to life, offering 3-D projections, files, and maps that were only accessible in Alicante.

“Now why would a war room in _Los Angeles_ need something so advanced?” Aline smirked, pushing herself off the door frame. She kept the door propped, knowing how heavily it slammed shut even when attempting to push it quietly.

Helen jumped. “I--” She pulled her hand away.

“It’s okay.” Aline laughed softly. “I thought we already got the fact that I don’t bite out of the way.” She smiled at Helen’s blush. Aline had seen her fair share of blushing cheeks, but nothing looked as pure or perfect as the pinkish hue donned across Helen’s cheekbones. “ _Sooo_ ,” she took a step closer. “Like I said, why would the City of Angels need something so extensive?”

“Because LA is the furthest thing from a city full of angels.” Helen chuckled, hands together in front of her. The closer Aline walked towards her, the more nervous her fidgeting became.

“I said you could touch it if you wanted to. It’s only fair since your Institute is apparently old and decrepit.” Aline stifled a laugh.

“ _Hey!”_ Helen’s brows furrowed. “it’s not… _that_ old. It’s newer than New York’s!” She smiled.

“Tell me more about your Institute.” Aline walked a little closer, purposely trying to use comforting conversation to distract Helen from her very obvious anxiety.

“Well, it’s run by my dad, Andrew Blackthorn. Most of its students are my brothers and sisters.” She smiled fondly, heart aching with nostalgia.

“What’s that like? Having brothers and sisters?” Aline’s initial reasoning for conversation had quickly melted away as she found herself growing curiouser and curiouser about this beautiful woman before her. “I’m an only child and…and the one person close enough to be my brother passed.” She said quietly, sending a prayer above for Sebastian.

Helen offered her a gentle smile and sorrowful eyes. “Well, there’s Mark and Julian and Livia, Ty, Drusilla, Tavvy. Oh, and Emma. She’s a Carstairs but she spends so much time with us she’s an honorary Blackthorn at this point.” Helen grinned. Family made her feel whole. And Aline’s smile didn’t hurt any.

“So, you’re the oldest? Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” It was now Aline’s turn to offer a gentle smile and sorrowful eyes.

Helen shook her head. “It’s thankfully never been like that.” She smiled. “My dad’s been good at making sure there isn’t too much pressure on us. I mean, of course there’s pressure to be a good role model but the bar has never been impossibly high.”

 _Can’t relate._ Aline thought to herself. She shook her head ever so slightly and smiled again. “That’s good to hear. It’s be a shame to spoil this face with pensive wrinkles so soon.”

Another blush immediately took Helen’s face, coloring it the faintest kiss of pink.

“Tell me about them?” Aline leaned her hip against the table, hand splayed on the edge of it.

Helen felt herself getting lost in Aline’s warm gaze; she felt like she could tell her anything and what was even more dangerous was that she knew she would. “Mark is eccentric. He’s always flitting around and almost getting in trouble but not quite. He’s very skilled at talking himself out of slippery situations. Then there’s Julian. He’s far too serious for a kid his age. Emma brings the youth out of him which is a relief. Emma’s a ray of light as is Livia. Ty is obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and solving mysteries. He’s always getting scolded for sneaking novels into his classes.” Helen laughed softly. “Drusilla, oh Dru. She’s gentle and kind but just doesn’t know it. She likes to hide and mask herself. I can’t wait until she sees herself how the rest of us do. And sweet little Tavvy. He’s just a baby so his story is yet to be written.” Helen hadn’t even realized how now her hand was leaning against the table’s ledge as well.

“What about your story?” Aline found the gravitational pull towards Helen impossible to escape. She wanted to know everything about this girl and her family. The rarest thought flew through her head, but she’d been quick enough to catch it: _I want to be a part of her family_. Aline Penhallow, who had been groomed to be the top of her class and the best she could be, who saw a future with no one in order to achieve success, felt herself melt.

“W-what about my story?” Helen asked quietly.

With her free hand, Aline pushed a lock of Helen’s hair behind her ears. “This story.” Her fingertips barely grazed the pointed tips as she tucked blonde locks behind them.

Helen let out a small gasp as she felt a bolt of electricity jump through her. But she didn’t leap back. Instead she found herself leaning forward. “I…my mother was a princess of the Seelie Court. Her and my father met while he was still a student at the Academy here. He…he said he’d never known love until meeting her gaze.” Helen’s eyes locked to Aline’s. She swore she saw Aline’s pupils dilate. “Other members of her family got involved...I guess you’d call them my aunts. They took my dad’s brother hostage and,” she sighed. “Everything got so messy so fast. My mom ended up helping them both escape. She gave Mark and I to my dad.” Helen’s eyes began to water. “She died.” Her smile was bittersweet. “Rumor had it she had nothing left to live for, so she died.” She whispered.

“Hey,” Aline’s hand had moved from Helen’s hair to cup her jaw. “It’s okay. I-I’m sorry for asking.” She whispered. Helen closed her eyes and leaned into Aline’s touch. Aline brushed the tear that had fallen with her thumb. Overcome with emotion for the saint in her arms, Aline pressed a kiss to Helen’s forehead. “It’s okay.” She whispered again.

Opening her eyes, she looked down at Aline. Wet lashes fluttered as she composed herself. “It’s not your fault. You had questions. I chose to answer.” Offering Aline a tender smile, she cupped her own hand over the woman’s.

“If it’s any consolation, I think you should show your ears off.” Aline moved to brush back Helen’s hair on the other side as well. Naturally, the movement brought them closer.

“And why is that?” Helen rolled her eyes with the softest of smiles.

“Because I think they’re cute.” _Holy shit, am I blushing?_ Aline asked when she felt a rush prickle her face.

“Well I think you’re cute so—” Helen’s prior ease and comfort shattered once she realized what she’d just confessed. “I-I mean…uh…” she swallowed thickly.

Aline’s smile was a mix between sweet and sinister. “You think I’m cute?” She asked.

“I—so this table, erm room, _wow_. What….what a room. I mean wow. You know? _Wow_.” Helen stuttered.

“I think I broke her.” Aline snickered. She dropped her hands and knocked on the table. “Hello, table Helen’s been _lusting_ after? I think I’ve broken her.” She shot Helen a playful smirk. 

Helen could only huff and roll her eyes at that. Prior sadness had been swept away at first by embarrassment and now by scoffing. “I am not--- _by the Angel_ , I just—” she crossed her arms to which Aline immediately protested. Her hand was placed on Helen’s arms as she gently undid them.

“You just what?” She asked, scared almost that Helen would shut down and that they’d never get a chance to explore the tension bubbling between them.

“I am not _lusting_ after a _table._ ” Her eyes narrowed.

“Alright. Is there something else you’re lusting after? Perhaps _someone_?” Aline intertwined their fingers, noting how Helen’s hands weren’t resisting but were instead knotting between her own. “I don’t think it’s fair that you blush so much and that I don’t get to kiss it away.” She said quietly.

“Logically speaking, kissing would only make me blush harder.” Helen mumbled. 

“Should we test that? For science of course.” Aline put on her most studious of faces.

“I mean…” Helen bit her bottom lip, grip tightening around Aline’s hand.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Aline assured.

“It’s the fact that I want to that scares me.” Helen whispered.

“Close your eyes.” Aline let go of one of Helen’s hands and cupped her jaw again.

Helen Blackthorn’s politeness was often mistaken for submissiveness when in reality, like all Blackthorns, stubbornness ran deep within her. But when Aline asked for her to close her eyes, she did so without friction. A shiver ran up her spine when she felt Aline’s hand cradle her jaw, fingers tangling in her hair. Instinctively, her eyes fluttered open for just a beat as she lowered her head, making sure to angle to the side. Brown eyes closed just as their lips brushed against each other.

No other girl she’d ever kissed felt like this. Aline’s heart was thudding harder than ever before. Each beat almost physically ached, it was so hard against her ribcage. The hand that had been holding Helen’s moved to her waist to which Helen nudged closer, bodies pressed together. Aline thought she was going to explode once Helen held her back. She thought she was going to flatline when she felt Helen deepen their kiss.

The constant chaos and running thoughts that only ever quieted when she was alone in nature, seemed to also quiet with Aline. All Helen felt was Aline: The softness in her skin yet firmness of sculpted muscle. The last look she’d stolen before their kiss. The sound of their lips and small hitches in breath as their kiss picked up intensity. The taste of her tongue… _is that strawberry?_ The smell of her perfume, a mix of vanilla and jasmine.  

Helen was the first to pull away. “Strawberry?” Was the first thing to blurt out of her kiss sore mouth causing an immediate blush to color her.

Aline laughed, dropping her head to Helen’s shoulder. She dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out two hard candies as well as an empty wrapper. “They’re my weakness.”

Helen laughed and found herself kissing Aline again—as natural as breathing.

* * *

Alec and Jia’s conversation halted the second they heard the alarms. Pure dread filled his body; enough dread to momentarily pin his constant dwelling thoughts of Magnus. He rushed out of the Consul’s office and saw across the hall was the war room. He skidded in doors to see if there was anyone able bodied within. What he wasn’t expecting to find was Aline making out with someone against the state-of-the-art computer. Wired to punish him, Alec’s mind immediately threw him back to when he and Magnus went to _check the perimeter_ of Camille’s apartment.

Aline and Helen gasped back at the sound of the alarm, eyes wide with shock. Helen’s grew even wider when she saw the head of the New York Institute staring at them frozen and almost pained. Normally when men stared at women kissing it was because they were sick, but she could tell he wasn’t consciously present. “Alec?” She asked as gently as she could. Helen saw grief play out on the Lightwood’s features.  

Snapping out of it, he straightened up and stored his aching soul away. “We need to find the others.” His voice was gruff to make up for the lapse of vulnerability. “Let’s go.” He extended his arm out for Aline and Helen to lead the way. Immediately the three began to jog down the corridor.

Isabelle came running down the halls, thankful that at the intersection she spotted her brother. “Alec!”

The three came to a halt. “On my way back from Jia’s office, I ran into Aline and her…”

“Helen.” Helen said, filling in the blank. She didn’t take Alec not knowing her name as an insult. Growing up watching her father run an Institute, she knew how stressful it could be. How many names came in and out of the building.

“Nice to finally meet you.” Izzy’s tension tugging at the corner of her smile.

“Likewise, although I wish the circumstances were different.” She said, reciprocating Isabelle Lightwood’s tension.

“What’s the plan?” Izzy’s gaze passed across the three of them, settling on Alec.

“We’re notifying all able-bodied citizens to take combat positions and prepare for battle.” Aline said, talking the helm. This was what her whole life had prepared her for.

“The others are gonna have to be ushered down into the demon shelters.” Helen added, thinking on the same wavelength as Aline.

“Well, the good thing is that you two were together when Alec found you.” Izzy said with the smallest sigh of relief.

Calm, cool and collected Aline blanched for the first time in her life. “We were just…doing…”

Panicked, Helen knew better than to look at anyone but Isabelle. “ _Research_.” She blurted out before looking at Aline so they’d be on the same page. Out of the corner of her eye she swore she saw Alec smirk softly, but it didn’t last for long as a jarring explosion brought their hell storm of a reality front and center again.

Alec pushed past politely to lead the pack to the nearest balcony. His stomach dropped. While he had been born in Alicante, he was raised in New York. This may not have been his home, but he respected the stories this country held as well as how it was the home of thousands.

Helen saw the pure horror in Aline’s face. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to see the L.A. in tatters like this. She put her hand on Aline’s arm and nudged her. Taking the cue, Aline led the group back inside.

“The city will never get clear in time!” Isabelle could still smell the ash even though they were inside. She could still hear the screams.

“Why aren’t the cannons firing?” Alec asked, not understanding why it seemed all of Alicante’s defensive line was at a standstill. He followed behind the group as an archer always did, knowing he could do more damage from afar.

“It’s gonna take a minute to get them all up and running.” Aline replied, steeling herself for the worst. They’d learned about demons in the Academy. She’d seen plenty of demons up close. But it was different when the demons were on your land, demolishing your home.

“We’ll go help. We’ll meet you back here.” Helen stopped walking as did Aline. They both turned to look at the Lightwoods. 

“ _Alive_.” Aline tacked on. By the Angel they _had_ to make it out alive. If they died just after she’d felt such peace and calm and felt her sense of longing gone in the arms of Helen Blackthorn, Raziel above would _never_ hear the end of it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Twitter @magnvslightwood


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